Rowena's Secret Wardrobe
by AlixTheParadox
Summary: It only takes one strange finding in your mundane routine to change they way your life was headed. Join Harry and Hermione in the summer before 5th year as they hone their skill to battle the forces of Voldemort. AU. Harry fights for independence and political stance. Slow burn h/hr mild bashing of Weasley family. Helpful Sirius, and an original OC that might just have the answers.
1. Chapter 1

**Rowena's Secret Wardrobe**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.**

 **1995: Summer Before Year 5**

 **a/n This chapter has been reworked and added another 2k words. the following chapters are on their way, and chapter 6/7 are awaiting the completion of these first 5 chapters. enjoy!**

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 **16 Heathgate, London 10:42 am**

"Why can't anyone do anything right?" Hermione's stepfather yelled. He had just gotten home from work, and it sounded as though he had stopped by the pub beforehand. She was sitting at the kitchenette with her Charms book open, conveniently charmed to look like a spiritual guide for muggle witchcraft.

"You!" he said with disgust seeing her sitting there. "All you do is sit there and read your stupid books, go to school some secret place up north for most of the year and do NOTHING for this household! NOTHING!" He shouted. "Get out! And take your freakish pagan religious crap with you!"

After Hermione's mother had married this buffoon of a man, John, Hermione and her mum mutually decided it best to keep her magic a secret from him after a drunken rant one night about the pagan teenagers he had seen earlier that day "spewing nonsense" about spells and spell work.

It had been a year and a half since the accident that took Hermione's father away. It was something that she tried hard not to think about when she was home for the holidays. This summer had been the hardest, even with the therapy sessions her mother had set up for her. As the wizarding world's war leaked into the muggle world, she was starting to understand the fear that had been prevalent during the first reign of Voldemort and knew she was only beginning to understand the terror that washed over the magical people during Grindelwald's war. Being a part of the Golden Trio, death was sure to follow, and even if the attack on muggle London was by chance, it wouldn't be the last time someone she knew would die.

One thing was for sure: Hermione knew her self worth and to be talked to in such a way by someone who was basically a stranger was unacceptable. She had a life changing choice to make.

John made his way into the kitchen still glaring at her, rummaging in the overhead cabinet doors looking for a glass and slammed it shut with a look of such loathing that made Malfoy look like a besotted schoolboy. . .

BANG!

 ** _-Flashback-_**

 **Henson** **Central Shopping District**

Hermione and her Dad were taking a stroll down the shopping district, it was the one day of the summer hols that she adored the most. The weather felt nice and a subtle breeze kept the heat away. Many children and adults alike meandered to and fro on the sidewalks, stopping occasionally to browse through a shop window.

CRASH!

There were yellow and purple curses flying everywhere. Building faces were being blown inwards. People were running and screaming. Wizards in dark robes were appearing and disappearing just as quickly as the spells left their wands.

' _What's happening? Are those spells?'_ In a panic Hermione searched for her wand in her pocket _, "Of course, I left it at home, I just wanted one non-magical day with my dad, but to have left my wand at home of all places! How stupid of me!'_ She heard her dad yell out: "Hermione watch out!" He had pushed her out of the way as the building next to them came crumbling down. Hermione watched in horror as rubble and debris came down onto him just where they both were standing seconds ago.

"NO!" She screamed, quickly turning back to where her dad had disappeared under the large chunks. Doing her best to heave as much rubble off of him as possible, she was able to find his face and cleared off just enough for his right arm to move as well.

Her father's face was covered in a light grey soot, blood running freely from his nose and mouth "Daddy," She started weakly. Tears pooling and clouding her vision, she knew that she was not strong enough to get the rest of the concrete chunks off of him. "I love you." In a few seconds, she was sobbing, "I'm sorry," she hiccuped, " I'm so sorry, daddy. This was supposed to be a normal day." She reached for his hand, grasping it tightly, willing him to stay with her, willing this to be a nightmare so that she could wake up.

"I'm so stupid; I should have brought my wand with me. I would be able to take this off of you and heal you, but I'm stuck, and I don't know what I am supposed to do. What should I do; what should I do?" She felt the panic rising in the pit of her belly. "I should have brought my wand; Merlin I'm so stupid. I'm so sorry."

An ache started developing in Hermione's chest; the regret for her carelessness, became overwhelming and she could vaguely hear sirens getting closer.

"Sweetie, this ..." He grimaced. "This isn't your fault. You … you didn't know this was going to happen," He coughed, fresh blood appearing around his mouth . "Tell your mum that I love her, will you, pumpkin?" His breath became increasingly labored.

"I promise," Hermione said weakly, squeezing his hand harder.

"And know this, Princess ... I love you too. And I am so proud of the woman you are becoming. Keep that strong head on your shoulders," He started, coughing more violently. "Keep that strong head on your shoulders and nothing will be able to stop you." He squeezed her hand, and struggled to breathe . "You will do great things Hermione…" And with his final words, Daniel Granger departed the mortal plane

He was gone. Gone from this world, but most importantly- her. He was gone forever, and she couldn't help but scream in agony, frustration, and anger.

Hermione understood he wouldn't move again, no matter how much she begged for a sign of life. She closed her eyes and stood up, fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white. Getting her bearings, she could see the lights from the emergency response units, and survey the extent of the destruction around her. Bodies littered the ground, young and old alike; smoke rose from buildings and rubble covered the sidewalk and streets. She ran towards the middle of the street and flagged down the closest available ambulance.

They quickly got out and pulled the rubble off of her dad. They confirmed what she already knew; he was dead. One of the paramedics came up to her and gave her a once over. Asked standard questions: Did she know this man, what had she seen? Once the paramedic examined Hermione's injuries and declared them minor scratches, she suggested something else that Hermione only partially heard. The paramedic must have seen the faraway look and asked the police officer to drop her back home, but not before slipping a note into her hand, addressed to her mom about the potential need for a psychiatric follow-up.

 ** _-End Flashback-_**

Ever since that day, loud noises triggered Hermione and would throw her back in time. From the reading that she had done, and the therapy sessions that she attended to please her mum, it was normal for a traumatic experience to have a lasting effect.

"Fine then, John," She said bitterly. He hated it when Hermione called him that. He had always tried to get her to call him dad, but he could never and would never earn that title. "I guess I'll just go and pack. Wouldn't want to leave you with any cursed items to cause you more problems," she slammed her charms book shut and quickly made her way up to her room and started packing.

Once there she took in everything to hold as a keepsake memory, not knowing if she would ever be able to come back, and if she did would her room still be here.

Her four posted pine-framed bed centered the furthest wall from the door, adjoined with two matching nightstands that were decorated with stilled photos of her time at Hogwarts, courtesy of Colin Creevy. Her trunk lay undisturbed at the foot of her bed with a throw blanket across the top. She had a medium-sized dresser on the right wall whilst her closet was built into the left wall.

It was a spacious room, enough so that two windows were placed on the wall the bed was aligned with. Her bookcase full to the brim had more books stacked neatly beside it on both sides. Her walls were painted a pastel peach, and the crown trim was a semi-gloss white. These were some of the decorations that hadn't been changed since she left for Hogwarts.

She had muggle boy band posters along her wall in some places whilst also a banner of the Chinese new year's, a large circular poster of the horoscope and a general puppy poster dated from 1991 with a large red circle around the 1st day of September.

Hermione made up her mind and wrote a note to her mum explaining what happened, and attempting to reassure her that she would be OK.

 _Mum,_

 _I want you to know that I love you and that I always will. I'm so sorry that I couldn't save daddy. While you have never said anything outright, I know what your eyes and actions say … you blame me for my inability to save him. And you are right. My magical abilities should have been enough, but I wasn't prepared and didn't have my wand. I will regret this decision for the rest of my life._

 _I want you to have the opportunity to build a new life with John. Neither of you need the reminder of the life you had before, so I'm doing my part and leaving so that you can forget about the pain I've caused and focus on your new happiness. Eventually I was going to have to choose between a life with you, here in the muggle world, or a life apart from you in the Wizarding World. I guess this decision is just happening earlier than either of us had expected._

 _I'll always remember the happy times we had as a family. I love you and always will. Please try to forgive me for the pain I have caused you, and know that I am truly wishing for nothing but your happiness._

 _Eternally your daughter,_

 _Hermione_

Once she finished packing, Hermione exited her childhood home, placed her note into her mom's book laying on her nightstand. Fighting tears that threatened to fall, Hermione quickly made her way outside and walked to the corner of her street. Looking around to make sure no one was nearby, she lifted her wand above her head and summoned the Knight Bus.

* * *

 **4 Privet Drive, Surrey 9:00 am**

With a sigh, Harry looked around his disorganized room. It had been exactly a month and a day since the end of term. His uncle and aunt had been working him like a house elf since the moment he returned, so much so that keeping his 'room' clean and put together became an extra chore in and of itself.

With another, smaller sigh because Harry knew that his room would not clean itself, he got started. He divided his clothes into two piles, dirty and clean, and then opened the wardrobe that his aunt had given him.

It had been collecting dust in a back corner of the attic for years, and when Vernon had contracted a team to clean out the cluttered space, they had asked what he wanted to do with the ugly monstrosity. His uncle had told them to treat it like all the other unwanted junk, but Petunia had convinced Vernon otherwise.

She had insisted that, in her words" If that freak has to stay under our roof, he can use that thing to keep his room clean. I'll not have him behaving like a slob in our home." Vernon had quickly agreed with his wife and Harry had gained the first piece of _new_ furniture in his life at the Dursleys.

As he tossed in his clean clothes, making a mental note to hang them properly the next day, Harry heard a thunk, as if something heavy had shifted upon landing. After a slight hesitation, he knelt and shoved his clothes over to one side. There he saw that a panel had moved over just enough to reveal a dim light shining on the far side, almost as if it were a laundry chute connecting to the lower level of the house. Unsure if he had missed it during his exploratory search of the wardrobe beforehand, Harry quickly got back on his feet and shifted the wardrobe enough to peek behind it. There he saw no shifted panel and no previously obscured laundry chute.

Going back to the front of the wardrobe, Harry leaned in toward the shifted panel and attempted to adjust it so the opening was larger. He cautiously inserted his hand and wiggled his fingers. When he couldn't feel his hand touching anything, he poked a hanger through the space and ran around to check the back of the wardrobe once more. The hole did not continue through the back of the wardrobe.

"Well..." Harry said out loud to himself. "It can't be any worse than the Chamber, right?"

And with that, he shoved the board over more until it gave him just enough room to slip his body through. With one last moment of hesitation, he pushed himself off and into the wardrobe where a slide appeared, hoping for the best.

A wide space opened around Harry as he whisked from the chute and he found himself dropping heavily from a few feet up the wall where the opening led back to the room above. Looking about, Harry was in awe. The small gap opened to a large room that easily could compare to the Hogwarts Great Hall.

The wall to his right caught his interest first. It was staged to be a training area with the walls lined with weapons, many of which weren't from Britain. Immediately to his right, he first noted the large blue mat with a white circle in the middle that made a small arena. The wall closest to this had many different wooden sticks ranging in size with different length and thickness.

Walking over he grabbed one that was only slightly longer than his own arm and no thicker than a Beater's bat's handle. Releasing it from its mount, he found it to be a lot heavier than he had anticipated. Walking to the center of the mat, he took a couple of good swings around. He felt awkward and clumsy with it and the weight of the stick made his arm and shoulder ache. Deciding that it would be best to put it back before he hurt himself, he had also made the quick decision that he would not be doing that again anytime soon.

Harry then moved over to the next area, where he found a display case that was sitting before the wall. In this display case, his eye caught an infantry helmet. Upon closer inspection, he found a grenade sitting undisturbed next to the helmet and quickly backed away from the table for good measure. Looking at the wall behind this display, Harry was able to name only a few of the many weapons that were displayed across the wall. Without getting any closer, he could spot a few different types of pistols, and a few different types of rifles. Knowing his luck, he kept his distance and did not investigate anymore in this section.

On the furthest and final part of the wall's strange assortment of weapons, he was greeted by yet another set of blue mats. This time though, in the center, a wooden dummy was in its place. The walls that surrounded this mat were lined with different types of swords. Harry walked over to the one that most resembled the Sword of Gryffindor that he had once wielded in his second year. Reading the placard it said:

 _Tantō_

 _Japanese_

 _Heian period 749 CE_

He moved over to the next sword, this one longer and had a diamond shaped pattern on its hilt. Harry read the placard:

 _Katana_

 _Japanese_

 _Muromachi period 1392 CE_

' _What is all of this?'_ Harry asked himself, looking at another placard and read the name and found the origin to be Chinese. Glancing at another, he read that it was from the Middle East. Feeling a bit overwhelmed about this collection he turned around to inspect the rest of the room.

The wall that now faced his right contained many paintings, some had very clear photos and others it looked like they were just a bunch of paint strokes that had to be stared at to figure out what they were. Each one of them also had placards beneath them, this time with names that he was unfamiliar with and what he presumed were the paintings name.

There was another display case that he approached wearily, hoping that it wouldn't contain any other objects that made him uneasy. He had found that it was full of different types of jewelry, each of which also had tiny cards accompanying them. Harry was not one who cared very much for jewelry and continued his self-guided tour. Last on his exploration came a very long range of bookcases that led him right back to the chute. He had passed a comfy looking couch, a small display case with nothing in it and a nightstand with a tome placed on it as if lay forgotten by whomever had created this place to begin with.

Harry walked back down the side of the bookshelves and noticed that some of the books looked rare. " _Something Hermione would be able to tell,"_ he thought. Some names of the books were very familiar to his school course work. Other books, however, were a lot more complex and specific on the content. He was extra weary of the books without a name, as he didn't need another fright from when he was younger and ventured into the Restricted Section at school.

One thing for sure that Harry had noticed was that no matter where he stood in the room, there never seemed to be a shadow from the light. He couldn't find the source specifically, but when he looked up it felt as if he had taken to looking at the sun directly.

Not knowing how long he had spent down in this secret room, Harry started to panic about being gone for too long and rushed to find a way back up. Seeing a rope with knots, he realized that he would need to climb to the chute to get out. Harry climbed up the rope with some difficulty, muttering to himself that he needed to find an easier way next time, and pulled himself through the chute and back to his room where he was just in time to hear the doorbell ring.

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 **a/n: let me know how this is now! happy reading**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary:** **It only takes one strange finding in your mundane routine to change the way your life was headed. Join Harry and Hermione in the summer before the 5th year as they hone their skill to battle the forces of Voldemort. AU. Harry fights for independence and political stance. Eventually h/hr mild bashing of Weasley family. Helpful Sirius.**

Chapter notes:

The Dursley's are unpleasant but not abusive to Harry.

Harry is not incapable of using his brain, for lack of better words. He is no pushover and has the excitement of all Muggle-borns about magic and what it can do.

Hermione is not a snooty person and is unafraid to ask questions.

 _'thought'_

 _"quoted out loud reading"_

"speech"

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.**

 **Year: 1995 summer before year 5**

 **4** **Private Drive**

"BOY!" Uncle Vernon's voice echoed through the house. That was Harry's cue to get the door. With quick thinking before leaving his room, Harry made sure that the nook in his wardrobe was as close as possible and for an extra measure threw his clothes in front of it like before. Racing downstairs so that his uncle wouldn't yell at him again Harry quickly opened the door out of breath.

"Alright, Harry?" A very familiar female voice ask. Panicked Harry pushed her back and closed the door to obscure the view.

"Hermione!" Harry started in a rushed whisper "What are you doing? You can't be here!" He quickly looked back to make sure his relatives were still inside.

"BOY! Whos at the door?" Uncle Vernon's voice was heard. Harry held his finger up to his lips to sign Hermione to be quiet, looked behind her and say her school trunk and picked up one handle and motioned for her to do so as well.

"Uh, just a solicitor I made him go away." Waving his hand in a hurried follow me motion they made it upstairs to his room. Shuffling in and gently lowering Hermione's trunk onto the floor with a soft thump and closed the door behind them.

"Hermione you can't be here! They'll lose their bloody minds if they found out I snuck you into the house!" Harry said frantically while also looking over Hermione to make sure she wasn't hurt or bleeding to give some sort of unsaid reason as to why she showed up. " Are you hurt, are you running away?"

"I'm fine Harry, I'm not hurt and I didn't run away, technically." She said while swatting his arms away.

"What do you mean technically?" Harry turned to straighten out his bed cover to give Hermione a place to see, while he went to his desk and sat on his unlevel stool.

"Well, John told me to get out and take my wizarding things with me. I left a note to mum that it would happen at some point, so I choose to leave now. I'll figure something out, I'm not the brightest witch of the century you know. I have enough money to stay at the Leaky Cauldron until term, or until it's time to go to the Burrow anyways."

Harry knew what happened to Hermione's real father and the quickness that her mother remarried. He knew of Hermione's PTSD, even though she was the one to explain to him what that acronym stood for. She provided some insight that he too had a form of it from his life with his relatives and the harsh realities that he has witnessed and been a part of during his years of Hogwarts.

Harry slumped in his stool resting his elbows on his knees and contemplated if he should tell her about the hidden space he found or if he should find a way to help her find a place to live.

"We could ask Sirius if he knows a way to help you, maybe find a law that could get you emancipated so that way you can live on your own," Harry said while getting up to shuffle through his school trunk to find the Sock that he kept his two-way mirror. "It'll just take a minute really." He reassured Hermione as she got ready to protest the idea.

"Sirius Black" Harry spoke clearly with his reflection in full view of the mirror.

"Harry, really. We don't need to be bothering him while he is trying to get his life together" Hermione started

"No Hermione, I've been in contact with him at least twice since the end of Term, just give him a second to pi-" He got cut off by an excited older male voice

"Hey there Pup!" Sirius Voice came through clearly

"Hey, Sirius!" Harry said back. No matter how many time he spoke to Sirius his spirits and mood were always uplifted. "I've got a question and a bit of a favor to ask of you." shifting his eyes over to Hermione before tilting the mirror over in her direction as well.

"Hermione?" Sirius questioned. "Why don't you start at the beginning then?" Harry handed the mirror to Hermione so that she could explain to Sirius all that has happened that resulted in her step-father kicking her out onto the streets.

"I see," Sirius said solemnly. "Well, there is legally nothing I can do for you Hermione" A look of defeat crossed her face "But that is only because I'm still a wanted fugitive, what I can do, though, is offer you a place to live."

"Oh, Sirius I don't want to be such a bother-"

"Nonsense!" Sirius rebutted "You would be no bother at all! And anyways Headquarters is never quiet these days."

"Headquarters." Hermione mouthed to Harry. He just shrugged also not knowing what Sirius meant.

"Actually Hermione, Harry this involves you too, how would you like to move over to my place in today?" Sirius asked with a large smile on his face

"Really!" Both teens exclaimed. One full of hope and the other relieved.

"Yes really" Sirius chuckled. "I have a lot to teach Harry before the term starts about what it means to be a Potter as the Heir of an Ancient and Most Noble House and I have a Library here that may just hold the answers needed to free my name." saying the last one-pointedly to Hermione.

At the word of Library, Hermione's eyes sparkled of the potential knowledge she has been missing out on. Their conversation was interrupted by the shouting of Harry's cousin Dudley.

"MOM! DAD! HARRY'S GOT A GIRL IN HIS ROOM!" His voice loud by Harry's door.

A look of panic crossed both Harry and Hermione's faces. They both bolted into action, Harry went straight to his wardrobe and started moving clothes around and Hermione pushed her trunk underneath Harry's bed in a feverish attempt to hide it from view

"Quick!" Harry said pointing to his wardrobe "in here, go through the hole!"

"What?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"Hermione I don't have time to explain, just trust me!" He came around her and started pushing her towards his wardrobe. " Just brace for the landing! Go! He's almost here" As Harry said that there were loud thumps on his door with his uncle's meaty hand making contact.

"BOY! THERE BETTER NOT BE ANY FREAKISH ACTIVITY HAPPENING IN HERE! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!"

Once Hermione slide down the shoot Harry replaced the loose backboard and put his clothes back again and rushed to the door.

"There's no one here Uncle Vernon." Harry attempted to keep him out of the room to no avail.

"Move boy! I will determine that!" Uncle Vernon shoved Harry roughly out of the way. He stood in the middle of the room looking every which way searching for a sign of another person. He flipped Harry's bed forcefully. And saw a trunk but didn't say anything about it. Uncle Vernon then moved to his desk and pushed it out of the way. He looked at the closed wardrobe and the looked and Harry and smiled at him believing he found where he was hiding this mysterious girl.

"You think you're so clever, hiding someone in your room in this wardrobe that my wife so graciously got you, boy!" Uncle Vernon ripped open the doors to the wardrobe to be met with Harry's cluster of clean clothing lining the bottom. With a defeated grunt Uncle Vernon turned to Harry. "Clean up this mess boy! We do not keep slobs in this household!" And walked out slamming the bedroom door behind him.

Harry let go of the breath that he was holding and quickly put his room back together. He made sure that his uncle and cousin were no longer going to bother him by waiting a moment before going back to his wardrobe, pulling the clothes out of the bottom and sliding down the shoot to join Hermione in the mysterious room that he had found just earlier in the day.

* * *

Harry landed on his feet and took a look around to see that Hermione was reading through the spines of the books that lined the walls. She turned around quickly in excitement.

"Harry! This room is incredible! These books are the first editions, they're so very rare! Where did you find them?"

"Er, I found them when I found this room," he replied while rubbing the back of his head. "I only found it this morning. You came here before I could even send you an owl about it." he came closer to her looking at the books alongside her. "So what makes them so special besides being the First editions? There are loads of first edition books in Flourish and Blotts you know."

"I know that Harry but these are the original first editions" she pulled a book down and Harry managed to see briefly the title: _The Book of Charms & Spells_ "There are details in here that are not in our school books, for instance" she flipped a few pages carefully until she found a Spell. "Look, Wingardium Leviosa, simple spell that we learned our first year. Nowhere in our first-year book does it have this warning in it." She shifted the book in a more comfortable position, straightened her pose and put herself in what Harry liked to call 'Lecture time' pose.

 _"Wingardium Leviosa, although this spell is quite simple in nature and a helpful one indeed, it can also be used in battle to permanently incapacitated your enemy by levitating them throw a window and canceling the spell. Allowing the enemy to fall to their death. And as such this spell should be taught to those who are responsible enough to not do such a thing."_

"It continues on in graphic detail of other horrible ways it could be used." Hermione shuddered and closed the book placing it gently back on the shelf where she found it. "I understand why they removed it from our student books but still. I feel almost cheated."

Harry nodded his head in agreement and looked at the shelf again and found another Book that was familiar to him. He grabbed _Curses and Counter-curses_ and flipped to a random page towards the middle. He read it out loud.

 _"Petrificus Totalus_

 _This curse causes the victim's arms and legs snap together, and they will fall down, stiff as a board. However, the person's skills to hear, see (however just straightforward), feel, and think still work properly. Quite a tactical curse to use in self-defense and to remove yourself from the situation. But when one is left unable to move the vulnerability and lack of resistance makes it easy to take advantage of the victim. Because this curse does not have a time limit of effectivity One could, after casting this on the victim, use it to torture and cause bodily harm. Upon being under this curse for an extended period of time could lead to pain for the victim since they have all senses available to them. The inability of movement would cause a mental distress so dire that alone could potentially drive a weak mind into a mild case of insanity."_

Closing the book slowly, he placed it back on the shelf and looked at Hermione, eyes wide. "That's mental!"

"This could completely change the notion of what determines Light and Dark curses, Harry!" Hermione explained, "Everything that we have been taught has been diluted-"

"Hermione breathe!" Harry said putting his hands on her shoulders. "Do you really believe that they would teach this type of thing in school? Hogwarts especially with the Blood purity? Just think what havoc would happen if someone like Malfoy body-bound someone and left them in an unused classroom." He released her, "These are simple spells that we have learned how to use one way, but all spells can be used not for what they're intended for. Like a kitchen knife, its use it to prepare food but what stops a person from using it to stab someone?" Harry asked her.

"Common sense in knowing that the knife is not intended to be used as a weapon but can be in self-defense," Hermione answered confidently.

"Exactly, but you were never taught that you just know that a knife is sharp and can do the job needed." He confirmed.

"Since when did you become so smart Mr. Harry Potter" She teased him with her hands on her hips.

" Hey, I've always been smart! I just don't always act on it." he finished off lamely.

"Isn't that the truth" Hermione scoffed at him. And proceeded to look at the shelves of books again. "Well if Sirius is finding a way for us to get picked up today how are you going to have access to this room Harry?"

"I don't know, I was thinking I could just ask it to be taken, come up with some sentimental reason or another."

"Hm, that may work… you could say that you bought it, although a strange thing to buy randomly they can't deny you your property." Hermione mused.

"I like that idea, come on let's get out of here, I still have to pack." He said walking towards the knotted rope.

Already knowing the answer Hermione asked, "And how exactly are we going to get back?"

"By climbing obviously," Harry said indifferently grabbing onto the rope, "Here you go first and I'll hold the rope steady."

Hermione made it up and through the shoot without much difficulty and Harry followed.

* * *

a/n Okay, all, I didn't want to end the chapter in this way but if I didn't it would just continue to go on and on. Next chapter, Harry, and Hermione get picked up by a group of familiar faces and some unknown. The house of Black is introduced and all of its inhabitants. All feedback is welcome, I will do my best to get back to every one of my reviewers, I believe as the story develops you are watching it unfold just as I am and because of that I like to be interactive and help with any confusion and going back into my story to correct the confusion. I am so very thankful for all those who have followed this story and followed my FF Profile.

**keep in mind I will not be uploading this quickly in the future. I will post a new chapter as I feel that I am far enough along on the chapter after the one posted so that I can always keep a forward momeentum.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary: It only takes one strange finding in your mundane routine to change the way your life was headed. Join Harry and Hermione in the summer before the 5th year as they hone their skill to battle the forces of Voldemort. AU. Harry fights for independence and political stance. Eventually h/hr mild bashing of Weasley family. Helpful Sirius.**

Chapter notes:

The Dursley's are unpleasant but not abusive to Harry.

Harry is not incapable of using his brain, for lack of better words. He is no pushover and has the excitement of all Muggle-borns about magic and what it can do.

Hermione is not a snooty person and is unafraid to ask questions.

 _'thought'_

 _"quoted out loud reading"_

"speech"

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.**

 **Year: 1995 summer before year 5**

"Have a seat," Harry said to Hermione and he started picking up items in his room and tossing it into his trunk. "I'll pack up the rest of my things so when Sirius gets here, we can leave right away."

Hermione took a quick look around and determined that Harry's unmade bed would be the most out of way place for her to be. She watched Harry rummage through his desk draws flipping through sheets of parchment before placing them back. He opened another drawer and pulled out his inkwell and overly used quills and tossed them into his trunk too.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed a look of hurt crossed her face as she watched how careless he was with his writing tools.

"What?" he said with a sheepish smile, realizing she might take slight offense to his lack of care.

"I swear Harry, now I know why your homework assignments always have ink blotches if you would just take care of your quills that wouldn't happen," she said in a matter of fact tone.

"Well, how else should I pack them? I gave up after the second year when they all broke on the train ride home, I just get new ones when term starts."

"Are you magic or not Harry?! There are cushioning charms you can put on bags to prevent that!" he just looked at her, unsure what to say. Laughing nervously, he went back to rummaging through his things and Hermione rolled her eyes.

After a few quiet moments, she spoke up again.

"What did Sirius mean by Headquarters?"

"I've no idea, he told me not to worry about him since there were so many people going in and out of his home, but no mention of a Headquarters." He threw the last bits of his possessions into his trunk closing it with a bit of effort due to the lump of clothing and sat on the lid with a proud smile gracing his lips. Hermione shook her head in amusement 'boys' she thought.

"So what should we do while we wait?" Harry asked

"I'm not sure?" Hermione answered looking at the wardrobe "How sure are you that if we take this with us that it'll still work the same?"

"I'm not very sure, but I didn't have this before this summer and I had nothing there before. Should we test it out?" Harry suggested

"How?"

"Well, I could go down in it and you can move it across the room," Harry suggested

"That could be dangerous! We don't know what would happen to what's inside let alone if someone was in it, we should put something in there that isn't living. Hedwig's cage for instance." Hermione insisted

"Okay let's do that and then we both can move it and see if anything happens," Nodding his head in agreement.

Swiftly moving to his window, he grabbed Hedwig's empty cage and went into the wardrobe.

"Hermione, where should I put it?" He yelled towards the exit.

"Just place it there Harry I can see it just fine from here."

Harry made it back through the small doorway with a little assistance from Hermione. They readied each other on opposite sides of the wardrobe and counted to three before shifting it across the room.

"Well," Hermione said gasping "That was a bit heavier than I expected"

Harry gasping as well "I'm going to have to really get into shape after this, my arms are starting to hurt" laughing a little.

They both moved to open the doors and hidden doorway, Harry with a hopeful look and Hermione already thinking of different ways to move forward if this failed moved to door to the side to see that Hedwig's cage had been completely undisturbed through all the movements they had made. Smiling at each other of the implication of what this meant brought excitement to both of them to be able to take this wherever they went.

* * *

Diagon Ally

"Hey, Fowley! Going to buy out my store again?" Yelled out the friendly store clerk.

Tapping his long nimble fingers on his chin in mocking contemplation, "Only perhaps half of it this time Ms. Faellen" looking over and giving her a polite smile. She giggled turning quickly to hide the developing blush on her cheeks.

Atlas Black-Fowley was of average height, thin but not sickly. He moved with grace akin to what you would expect royalty to look like. He had the same characteristics that ran through all of those within the Black bloodline; high cheekbones and prominent jet-black hair. His looks took after his father's line while his mannerisms and personality took after his mother.

His mother Phoebe Fowley was the last living person of the Ancient and most noble house of Fowley in the wizarding world. The family had been annihilated in the first war they were a neutral family that came to an unfortunate demise at the hands of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters. Phoebe survived physically unharmed arriving at her family vacation cottage as the dark mark was placed above the burning remains. She fled the country after, freezing her family assists within Gringotts from all possible inquiries unless done by herself. It was during her time in Europe that she had met Alphard Black who had been cast out from his family the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black for encouraging his nephew to not believe in the pureblood agenda to eradicate all muggle born magical. They soon fell in love and conceived a child, Atlas.

Atlas Black-Fowley, named after the Greek titan in favor of his mother who also was named after a Greek goddess. Alphard, believing in the Black tradition of naming all sons after a constellation or God agreed on said Titans name in hope such name would bring the same powers to him of the natural understanding of navigation through the stars.

Although both parents did not partake in the blood supremacy that has stained great Brittan Atlas was raised with all proper mannerisms that all Sons and Daughters of the Ancient and Most Noble Houses went through.

Growing up as an aristocratic man his hair was grown and never cut above the shoulders. In public settings, his hair was placed in a high bun on his head. The curls of the Black lineage refused to be tamed and it showed through. Although on most wizards this would look unkept the Black family had a crazed aura that was enunciated by these untamable curls. Just as any other man of his age, he was gifted with facial hair. Just as his upbringing it was kept trimmed and well kept.

As the last male of the ancient and most noble house of Fawley. Atlas overtook the lordship once he became of age and all the responsibilities that it entitled. His mother no longer in the picture from dying of dragon pox when he was merely 9 years old, he was taught the more so in the ways of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black in etiquettes and nobility. Thankfully his father Alphard did not believe in the crazed Blood Purity that most of his predecessors did, he raises Atlas to be a gentleman of an open mind just as his mother's family had been taught. But that did not stop Alphard to reminding Atlas that although he did not favor the blood purity, he does come from two most ancient houses and must learn to act like one.

Even though his father was removed from the family, Sirius Black and his scandal of being sorted into the House of Gryffindor was not hidden from them. Being five years his junior, Atlas didn't see the need to associate himself with his cousin. He himself was sorted into Ravenclaw and he cared more about his studies than to involve himself in the mischief that of his cousin and friends.

As Atlas became an adult, he immersed himself in his studies and Lord duties. He didn't see the need to dally in any lasting relationships in a romantic matter. He knew that he was an eligible bachelor coming from an ancient and most noble house, and with that a large sum of money it made him an even more desirable target by all witches.

He was well versed in the aftermath of the war, along with who ended in Azkaban. With two members of the Black family locked up he kept his Black lineage quiet as best as he could.

Along with the rest of the wizarding world, atlas had believed it was believed that Sirius' true motive came through and betrayed the Potters, pulling one of the greatest Slytherin stunts, hiding in plain sight.

Making his way through the many shelved lined with books Atlas plucked a few titles that he knew he did not have currently in his library. He liked to keep his information up to date, keeping both older copies and newer copies for cross-referencing and to please his need as a scholar to find the mistakes and to put together his own collection of books made specifically for students. He had a plan to improve the material that Hogwarts used to teach their students.

He walked up to the clerk from earlier "Just these few today Ms. Faellen" he said with a kind smile.

"Please sign here," She passed him the official Gringotts pay slip he did so accordingly with no hesitation "It was great to see you again Atlas" Smiling prettily "You should come by more often."

"I'll make sure try my best" He replied, smiled at her one last time and left the store.

* * *

Harry and Hermione spent the next few hours laughing and enjoying their time. Pausing from time to time when they heard Harry's cousin walking through the hallway. Harry had managed to grab some scraps from the fridge along with a large glass of water for the both to share.

It was 10 minutes till 11 pm when someone finally showed up to take the teens out of the house.

"Professor Lupin!" both teens exclaimed in surprised as they saw him open the door to Harry's room slowly.

"I'm not Your professor any more you know" he chuckled lowly in his throat trying to remain quiet to avoid waking the other residents in the house. "You can call me Remus, or even Mooney for that matter, the both of you" The teens nodded in agreement.

"Do you have all your stuff ready?" He asked looking between the two. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and then at Remus and nodded

"Only thing is Moony, can we take this wardrobe too. I've grown attached to it and I don't want the Dursley to throw it out while I'm away. It wouldn't be the first time that I've come home for the Hols and found something broken or gone from my room."

Remus' eyes flickered with a quick moment of anger of the lack of personal privacy of Harry and agreed immediately to it. Shrinking it down along with his trunk he asked Hermione where her things were.

"Just under the bed here, we had to keep it out of view from his uncle, they didn't know I was here all day." Remus nodded and shrunk down Hermione's stuff. "Mad-eye is downstairs in the backyard, let's hurry quickly before the Portkey expires."

All three quickly made their way down the stairs and through to the backyard as quickly as the could. Mad-eye had his normal eye on them as they arrived and his magical eye swirled around in the socket making sure that no other person on being would interfere. "Quickly now!" he ushered them with his gruff voice. "Do I need to explain how this works?" he asked. Both teens shook their head no remembering using a portkey to get to the Quidditch World cup just last summer. "Excellent," He pulled out an old hat and waited for all participants to place a finger on it before activating it. "Phoenix Fire".

* * *

A/n I didn't intend to introduce our new character in this chapter, but no matter how I wrote this he was screaming at me to be known now. so instead of the grand welcoming at Grimewald place, you got this instead. which I'm not too upset about, I am very proud of my OC to be introduced into the Harry Potter world and have been excited to share him with you. I hope you all will come to love him as much as I have come to love creating him. We will have moments further on where some chapter will be dedicated to Atlas until the party meets him properly. I wanted to get this chapter out to you all. its been a very long time coming, and another chapter may just take as long due to me becoming homeless in the next couple of months unless I can secure a home for myself and my two dogs. Have a great Holiday season my wonderful readers and I will see you on the flip side.

As always, let me know what you think if there are any mistakes that are eyesores let me know and I will fix them asap.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary: It only takes one strange finding in your mundane routine to change the way your life was headed. Join Harry and Hermione in the summer before the 5th year as they hone their skill to battle the forces of Voldemort. AU. Harry fights for independence and political stance. Eventually h/hr mild bashing of Weasley family. Helpful Sirius.**

Chapter notes:

The Dursley's are unpleasant but not abusive to Harry.

Harry is not incapable of using his brain, for lack of better words. He is no pushover and has the excitement of all Muggle-borns about magic and what it can do.

Hermione is not a snooty person and is unafraid to ask questions.

 _'thought'_

 _"quoted out loud reading"_

"speech"

* * *

Before we start: A reviewer has expressed their… disappointment I guess, for the mentioning of the katanas and other weapons that Harry had found. I want to make it quite clear that although something is mentioned, and not remotely close to the canon HP franchise (as this story is not meant to be as noted in the summary by AU meaning Alternate Universe for those who may not know.) it does not mean that it is or will be used in this story for anything other than an object of observation. This note will also be added to the chapter that this involves. If you have any more questions or concerns please reach out and I am more than willing to explain without spoiling the story.

As you were fellow readers.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.**

 *** source of information from the Harry Potter Fan Based Wiki**

 **Year: 1995 summer before year 5**

Two of the four travelers landed smoothly, Harry and Hermione stumbled quite a bit and ended up on the ground anyways. Hermione recovered quickly with a huff and straightened out her clothing while Harry remained on the floor for a bit longer with a groan.

"I need more practice with all wizards travel," He said as a hand appeared in front of his face in an assist. Lupin chuckled

"Unless you're traveling my wizard means often Harry, you'll probably always end up on the floor."

"Good to know" he grumbled.

"Are we in London?" Hermione asked

"Yes lass," Mad-eye said handing her a slip of paper. "now read this memorize it and destroy it." She grabbed the paper, read it and handed it to Harry, her eyes growing large as though she saw something that wasn't in front of her moments before. Harry looked at her curiously and she ushered him to read the slip.

"The order of the Phoenix can be found at 12 Grimmauld Place Islington, London, England" Harry whispered to himself. Harry confused looked at Hermione who in turn placed a hand on his cheek and forced him to look forward at the townhomes in front of them. To Harry's amazement, the two homes of 11 and 13 Grimmauld place started separating. Moving as though a giant was forcing them apart. In place of what would be a gap, the existence of number 12 Grimmauld place became true.

"I love magic!" Harry exclaimed with a large smile on his face. Forgetting about the paper in his hand as Lupin grabbed it and cast a quick Incendio to destroy the evidence.

"Let's get inside, I know there are quite a few people who would be excited to see the both of you." Lupin smiled at them both walking forward. Mad-eye knocked on the door, three times, paused and twice more before the door opened on its own accord.

Lupin stopped both eager teens before entering "We have to be quiet walking through the foyer, This house belongs to The Black family, His mother to be precise. She's a foul woman and has a larger than necessary portrait of herself on the wall. She will start screaming obscenities about blood supremacy if woken from behind the curtain. Once we are in the kitchen you can talk normally." Harry and Hermione both nodded in understanding, now cautiously entering the house and looking around.

The House of Black was not what either of them had imagined. A thick layer of dust covered the portraits and shelves that lined the walls. The hardwood flooring also had a noticeable traffic path while the edges by the walls remained gray. Mad-eye and Lupin both moved quickly in front of them leading them to what they assumed was the door to the kitchen. Lupin smiled at them before opening the door and waved them towards him. Not before Hermione saw the disturbing site of shrunken house else heads hung my hooks on the wall before entering the kitchen.

The kitchen wasn't much better in the cleanliness, there was a large long table in the center seating up to at least 20 guests. To the far wall opposite of the entrance was the stove top, counters on either side and a refrigerator. To the left, there was a door that leads to an unknown location and to the right a wall with grossly peeling paisley patterned wallpaper. Seated at the table was Sirius, a woman with short neon pink hair, by her sat Ginny. At the further end of the table closest to the door that leads to another room sat Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking to a dark-skinned man alongside Charlie. At the other end of the table sat Ron with his twin brothers Fred and George talking in hushed whispers and excitement in their eyes. Sirius was the first to acknowledge the four by standing up with a large smile on his face. Once the door was closed behind him he exclaimed.

"Harry! Hermione! Welcome to the house of Black, as unwelcoming as it may look!" He rushed over and gave Harry a large warm hug "I missed you pup." He whispered before moving to Hermione. The others occupying the room also moved to get up to great the duo with hugs and well wishes.

"It's so very nice to see you again Hermione" Sirius said to her sincerely. Never forgetting it was her that rescued him with her brilliance.

"You as well Sirius, you're looking much better and well fed!" She said with a heartfelt smile

Sirius barked out laughing "it's a bit difficult to stay a twig with Molly's cooking." She laughed in agreement. Also turning to say hello to the rest of the people within the kitchen.

"Let's get the two of you settled into your rooms, there are many here so you both get your own. Do you have your things?" Sirius said once everyone settled back down. Both teens looked at Remus and he reached into his pocket and pulled out their items and handed them to each.

They both followed him out of the kitchen and up two flights of stairs, taking note of all the gothic decorations that lined the walls of the hallways. Once the reached the landing Sirius started to point out to the left, "this room is Ron's, the twins are across from him. Harry your room is next to Ron's, the room after yours is my Cousin's, Nymphadora, but don't call her that if you value your family jewels." He winked "Hermione your room is across from Harry's. Ginny's room is the one after yours." He looked at them both and they nodded.

"Now, Harry since I am your _illegal_ legal guardian I am giving you permission to use magic in the house, so long as you do not parade that around the Weasley kids, Molly has forbidden them to use magic. Hermione, I'm not your guardian or parent but neither is Molly, as this is my home you also have my blessing to use magic as you wish." Both teens looked at each other excitedly

"Thank you, Sirius!" They both exclaimed simultaneously.

He smiled at the both of them "Now, hurry and get your rooms set up, we are having a late night dinner today. The bathroom is that door at the end of the hall." He pointed. "There's another on the floor below you if needed." He smiled at them once more "I really am so happy that the both of you are here, tomorrow we will talk about the current situation with Hermione and then you two have the freedom to do as you both please" He turned and headed back to the stairs presumably to go back to the kitchen.

"You take a shower first Harry, if you want, I'll take mine after dinner. I didn't realize how hungry I was with all the excitement of today." Embarrassment crossed over Harry's face, realizing not once did he ask Hermione if she needed anything to drink or eat while over, although getting food and water for two while his aunt and uncle were home would be an almost impossible task.

"Don't give me that look, Harry," she said opening her door, "We weren't exactly in the most opportune location for you to offer me anything."

"That's true," He sighed shifting his eye towards the bathroom door. "Alright, I'll see you downstairs in a minute." Harry turned to his room, enlarged his trunk and fished out some comfortable clothes to wear downstairs. His room was nothing extravagant tattered curtains fell loosely around the windows the dresser was cocked to the side due to a broken leg, and the bed frame looked like it had seen many better days. But he could tell the sheets were clean and the amount of dust that covered the surfaces couldn't have been there longer than a few days.

The bathroom thus far was the brightest room that he had seen, with white tarnished tiled walls that crawled only halfway with a seafoam green to continue to the ceiling. White 2x2 tiled squares littered the floor. The shower tub was also white, with ornate off white almost grey feet. The shower head was positioned above the middle of the tub with a metal ring rod to hold the shower curtain. Two medium gas lamps were found on the wall that was lit magically. A small space heater with only four rungs sat under the window. The sink was made of a substance that looked like granite, white as well with gray stripes slithering across the surfaces like snakes. The sink was in place by ornate metal legs and above it was an in-wall medicine. On closer inspection, the cabinet had an undetectable expansion to it and was more like a linens closet with a few shelves of towels.

After taking a quick shower, he made his way quickly and quietly downstairs into the kitchen where he saw everyone as they were when he had entered the first time. The only difference is that there were empty plates in front of each resident and mounds of untouched food on the table.

"Alright, Harry!" Ron exclaimed, "Can we eat now Mum?" The whole table laughed at him, causing Harry a bit of situational embarrassment realizing they had waited for him to eat and felt a bit guilty for taking the time to shower before dinner instead of after.

"Hush Ronald," Molly scolded "I just got the food on the table, you can wait until Harry has found a place to sit." She looked at Harry expectantly. He quickly found his way to the empty seat next to Hermione that sat across Ginny and the woman with the Electric hair.

Dinner went along without a hitch, everyone was excitedly talking to Harry and Hermione and they, in turn, did the same. Once everyone was full to the brim Molly shooed all the teens off to bed.

* * *

NEWGATE STREET VILLAGE, ENGLAND NORTH OF LONDON

20, July 1995

 _Aqua Eructo Charm_

 _A more specifically powered water charm than Aquamenti. The water flow can be anything from a thin fountain to an immense, powerful and destructive jet._

 _This water can be used for a variety of purpose, such as extinguishing fires, defeating salamanders, pushing things or even to do damage to creatures such as dugbfogs and erklings, although it is most often used to extinguish flames, as above noted.*_

 _This charm is mostly taught to the older children in schools. Without control easily turn a classroom into a swimming pool…_

Atlas placed his quill into the inkwell and rubbed his face. He had spent the last couple years of his life creating an all-inclusive book of spells focusing on magical theory. It was during his time at Hogwarts that he discovered his love for Magical Theory. The class, unfortunately, was canceled in his 4th year due to the lack of students interested. It used to be a required class and now has become nothing more than an extracurricular course that is only scheduled if enough students apply for it. He had petitioned for it taking the statistics of the student population and their OWL results showing a steady decline on practical exam results. He was sure that this was due to the students not understanding why the spells do what they do and he was doing everything in his power to change that. Atlas truly believed that if you understood the capabilities of magic, performing them would become easier, and then following would be the power and that came from genetics.

Closing the tomb, and straightening his research that was scattered across the top of his desk and also levitating around his desk, he left his study and crossed his modest flat to enter his kitchen. There a house elf came into view.

"Master Fawley, is you hungry sir, Mipsy will fetch it?"

"Only something small Mipsy, I will be retiring soon and don't want to sleep on a heavy stomach."

"Of course Master Fawley, yous wait at the table sir and Is will have something light for yous to have before bed."

Atlas took a seat at the dining table lost in thought on his work when Mipsy had his food placed in front of him.

"Hobnobs and chamomile Mipsy?" he asked amused with his elegant eyebrow raised

"T'is Masters favorite when growing up, Mipsy worries that Master is working too hard." She said ringing her wrists nervously.

"This pleases me Mipsy, very much. I shall be going to sleep tonight with a warm belly and happy heart." He smiled at her and she popped away to leave him to his food and musing. Mipsy had become his personal house elf once his mother died. His father took her death roughly and the house elf took care of him for the following years until he went to wasn't until after Hogwarts did he realize how much Mipsy really took care of him, made sure that he was fed and got sleep. He had been out of Hogwarts for 16 years now and she still made sure that he didn't lose himself in his studies.

Just as he had finished his last hobnob and about to drink the rest of his tea, Mipsy popped back into his presence.

"A letter arrived sirs from the fiery bird belonging to the Headmaster of Hogwarts." She placed the letter next to him and popped out of view. Atlas looked up towards the ceiling, his mental strength mostly gone with his bed was so near. With a sign and squeezing his eyes shut momentarily in mild annoyance of the inconvenience of the Headmaster's timing, he opened the letter.

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

 _Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

 _(Order of Merlin First Class, Grand Sorc., Chief Warlock,_

 _Supreme Mugwump, International confed. of Wizards)_

 _Dear Lord Fawley,_

 _I have taken into great consideration of your insight and research resulting in the trending decline in the student body OWL results._

 _I have brought it up to the attention of my staff and those belonging to the Board of Governs. It has been mutually agreed that a test year will be delivered on Magical theory as a Core class._

 _Only available to the 5th year students. It was a unanimous vote that a year would be enough to test your theory and will do no harm to the students in doing so._

 _The Board of Governors also believe that since this is your theory that you are best fitted to teach the lessons._

 _If you agree to these terms, the Board of Governors have requested a copy of your curriculum and the book(s) you will be using for your class no later than_

 _15 August 1995._

 _I wait eagerly for your reply,_

 _Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Atlas groaned at the letter, flipped it upside down on the table and got up from his chair, his back cracking back in place as he stretched. He would deal with this new development after he had a good nights rest and the proper mental strength to reply back to the headmaster.

"Mipsy, leave the letter on the table, I will address it tomorrow morning after I've had my breakfast." He said into the room as he walked out, not waiting to see if Mipsy had arrived in the room as he spoke.

Atlas stripped his clothing down to his boxers and slipped in-between the sheets of his bed. The weighted blanket formed around his body like a gentle hug and he was no longer apart of the conscious world.

a/n: Thoughts? Reviews always welcome. Let me know if the formatting if wonky too. Can't see to get it right this time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary: It only takes one strange finding in your mundane routine to change the way your life was headed. Join Harry and Hermione in the summer before the 5th year as they hone their skill to battle the forces of Voldemort. AU. Harry fights for independence and political stance. Eventually h/hr mild bashing of Weasley family. Helpful Sirius.**

Chapter notes:

The Dursley's are unpleasant but not abusive to Harry.

Harry is not incapable of using his brain, for lack of better words. He is no pushover and has the excitement of all Muggle-borns about magic and what it can do.

Hermione is not a snooty person and is unafraid to ask questions.

 _'thought'_

 _"quoted out loud reading"_

"speech"

 **Chapter 5**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.**

 **Year: 1995 summer before year 5**

 _ **Edit: I misspelled the word Peverell, its been fixed**_

* * *

Harry woke up slowly. His face burrowed into his pillow and the fluffy warm comforter warped securely around him. He was tempted to go back to sleep, closing his eyes, when he remembered today Sirius would be working with him and Hermione about her predicament of being a runaway. Pushing himself up onto his knees he grabbed his glasses off of the nightstand to his left. Crawling out of bed he found his jeans and grabbed a clean t-shirt out of his trunk and made his way downstairs to the kitchen where he saw Sirius and Hermione sitting at the table talking quietly over a cup of tea. Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen cooking up breakfast for the rest of the occupants of the house.

"Good morning Harry" Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully "Did you sleep well?"

"I did, thank you" he replied making his way to the table where both Hermione and Sirius greeted him with a smile.

"Hermione here was telling me about yesterday and how she ended up at your home Harry. We spoke in depth about the current situation, although I cannot adopt her into the House of Black in the legal sense through the Ministry for Magic, I am in fact the last remaining Black Heir to take the Lordship which has been granted to me by magic. The family tree has been updated recently. If there's one thing that my family did right, it was how our Lordship title was passed down. By the death of the previous Heir and only transferred if that branch in the tree has been eliminated." he chuckled shaking his head in amusement. "The better news Harry, is that the Lordship title still holds effect even if the Ministry for Magic wants me dead, Most Ancient and Noble House Lordy rules and whatnot, therefore I have instituted that Hermione Granger is a Ward of the House of Black" Sirius grinned "In doing so she now has a new place to call home." Sirius smiled widely at Hermione.

"Thank you Sirius!" Harry exclaimed

"The two of you saved my life, and you harry saved me from the dementors more than just that night in the forbidden forest. I owe you and Hermione a life debt and I will repay that in whichever way I can." Sirius said in a matter of fact tone.

"Sirius was just telling me all that comes with being a ward," She said urging him to continue with his explanation.

"As my ward, Hermione will have the full protection from the Black family, and no-one within the family can harm her. She will have access to the trust fund vault, that is set up for all underage Black children or wards. You can wear the Black family crest on your school robes if you so choose," he addressed her "but while wearing regular wizards robes the Black family crest must be on them with a W above it. This allows all to know that you are protected by my family." He paused pursing his lips in contemplation.

"What about my parents," Hermione cut in. "Do they have any say in this?"

"When you left the letter for you Mother before you set off to Harry's place it initiated a magical separation that many Muggle-born wizards do if their parents are not so accepting of their children's magical ability. Essentially, with that letter Hermione, you declared yourself unknowingly as an orphan and in doing so allowed me by the old laws to claim you as my ward. You now will appear under my name next to Harry's on the family tree." Sirius stood up, Harry looked confused and shot a glance at Hermione who shrugged "This way." Sirius beckoned as he led them to the family tree room. Hermione and Harry both followed.

Once arriving into the room shortly after Sirius, they filed behind him and followed his gaze to the tapestry. There just under Sirius' name led two lines, one to Harry, stating his full name 'Harry James Potter' with the subtitle of 'Godson and Heir of The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, Heir Apparent of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Peverell' while the other line looking more vibrant color in contrast to Harry's, was Hermione. Her name was annotated a bit different, in color and writing, stating her name and a subtitle 'Ward of The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black'.

"Wait," Harry spoke suddenly glancing back at his name "You made me your Heir?" to which Hermione interrupted "Harry didn't you know that you're a part of the Black blood line through your dad? "

"Yes, Harry and yes he is Hermione." Sirius answered "Harry being apart of the bloodline made having him as the Heir possible. Otherwise it would fall into the Malfoy boys' hands and we can't have that happening now, can we?" He winked

"And who is the Peverell house? Why have I heard that name before?" Hermione asked furrowing her brows flipping through her memory of all the books she has read in the past.

"The Peverell line being under Harry's name is just as surprising as it is for the both of you, that name comes from the fairy tales of the Deathly Hallows." With Hermione's face still set into contemplation she shook her head in defeat. "I can't recall where I've seen or heard of that still."

"It's typically told to younger magical children as bedtime stories, I'm not surprised that you can't quite remember where you've heard it. You might have even heard it in passing at the halls of Hogwarts by the other children." Sirius explained, leading the teens out of the room and back towards the kitchen.

"I'll find you a copy if you'd like, it's just fairy tales though." Sirius offered

"No that's okay Sirius, I'm sure there are proper books of blood lineage that would serve me better on this," Hermione stated in a matter of fact. "Harry we should get one so that you can follow your bloodline, it's best to know where you come from in this war, even see who your cousins might be." Harry nodded in agreement to which he asked as an afterthought.

"Do we not have anyone who works in the ministry who is on our side and will listen to us instead of arresting you on site?" Harry brought back up, wanting so badly for his godfather to be free from hiding. Sirius's response was paused. They could hear a few pairs of footsteps in the hallway by the stairs, signifying more inhabitants of the manor were waking up and making their way into the kitchen. Harry, Hermione and Sirius entered the kitchen to see who had finally woken up. Tonks, Ron and Ginny sat sleepily at the table, Kreacher the House-elf came in and placed empty plates in front of all the guests and tea.

"Coffee" Tonks sleep thick voice came across the table, her hair a muted pink. Her tea disappeared with a cup of coffee in its place, cream and sugar were added to the table thereafter.

Hermione looked over at Harry, then at Sirius and then at Tonks. "Tonks is an Auror isn't she? That's part of the Ministry law enforcement. So, we have someone on our side." She said hopefully. "I'm only a first year Auror," Tonks grumbled into her coffee "I have no hold or say in any department, let alone my own." She took a long sip, her hair slowly turning back to her usual pink spikes as the caffeine worked its magic on her.

Mrs. Weasley took this moment to levitate the breakfast she was making along the center of the table. Ron immediately woke up to food being placed in front of him and started stacking his plate full of biscuits sausage and gravy. Ginny looked on at him in disgust before neatly grabbing her choice of breakfast items. Harry, Hermione and Sirius also joined in filling their plates with food.

"No more political talk at the table, eat your breakfast you lot, while I get the twins down here to help with chores. Harry, Hermione, I know that you are here as Sirius guests but I'm sure the boys and Ginny would appreciate the extra hands cleaning the house up today." The two looked over to Ron and Ginny and saw the grim faces they had and the small pleading nods for them to agree. Mrs. Weasley walked up the stairs before the duo could reply so they looked over to Sirius who shrugged and then nodded in agreement to the two youngest Weasley kids.

"Thanks mate," Ron said, "It's dreadful work but it'll be more enjoyable with you two helping out I'm sure."

"What do these chores consist of?" Hermione asked warily.

"Oh, you know," Ginny started "Just dusting, dusting absolutely everything in this house. We only managed to get the bedroom floor done yesterday, no thanks to the twins running off whenever they could to do Merlin knows what." Her eyes rolling in annoyance.

"Wonderful." Harry said sarcastically, going for seconds "When do we start?"

"Whenevfer you phinisth your brefas" Ron said with a mouthful of food. All three women at the table looked at him with disgust.

Harry nodded, they ate in mostly silence to not upset the matriarch with any conversation that may seem political and pushed their empty towards the center of the table for Kreacher to clean up. Harry looked to see if Hermione was done and they both got up from the table unintentionally signally the rest of the party to do the same.

* * *

Atlas awoke feeling rested. Sitting up in the bed stretching his arms over his head with a yawn. He slipped his feet into his house shoes and grabbed his sleep robe from the foot of his bed making his way into the kitchen where Mipsy was diligently making breakfast. Before sitting down, he went to his study to grab the letter Albus had sent him the night before. Grabbing some parchment and his quill he returned to the kitchen to find his breakfast ready with a hot cup of tea.

"Thank you Mipsy, it looks delicious, as always." He smiled at her. Sitting down and placing his parchment along with the letter aside he began to eat.

As he ate, he contemplated his options. "If I were to take the position, my theory could be put into play. These past few years of dedicating myself to these studies could prove to everyone that my theory is correct."

He sighed "This position also means losing valuable time that I would need to finish my book, however, in between classes I could also test them out for this targeted audience and make adjustments and needed."

Concluding that the pros are outweighing the cons, Atlas started working on a curriculum.

It was in the early afternoon that he had finished his final draft, breakfast long forgotten and unnoticed that his tea was refilled and kept warm as he worked away as usual. Upon finishing his acceptance letter along with attaching a copy of his curriculum he placed it on the table to take with him after changing into his robes.

"What is my Lord wishing for lunch?" Mipsy asked as he came back down to the kitchen.

"I will be grabbing lunch out of the house today Mipsy, I have been sitting here for too long to not get some fresh air. Please have my response letter sent to the Headmaster of Hogwarts." He pointed to the letter on the table. "I have shopping to do in preparation for my new Job title." With that he once again made his way to Diagon Alley to gather extra supplies for his class.

Once arriving at the apparition point in diagon alley, Atlas set off to find a printing press. It was quite a difficult task to find a place that would print at a reasonable price due to the extra request that would be needed.

After his third attempt exiting Ink Blotts Printing Press, Atlas was sure he would have to find another wizarding community so that his books could be done before term a slight slack off his shoulders, marginally so that no passing person would notice. He walked down the open street and saw a slight shimmer of a shop sign out of the corner of his at the corner of the entrance of Knockturn Alley. A sign that sparkled and shimmered upside down and read ''The Quibbler ''. Through the window he could see quite a bizarre scene unfolding.

With in the shop a frantic man with much too messy hair, strange robes that could easily rival Dumbledore's. As atlas stood closer he noticed the windows were decorated with the words "the Quibbler News Paper Printing Press" a paper presumably part of the newspaper slapped against the window in front of him. He briefly got a glimpse of what looked like a strange crude drawing of a creature that was a mixture of a Murtlap and a Doxie by its large ears and elongated tail. With only a slight hesitation Atlas went in. He was greeted by parchment flying past him. Blank ones zooming past his face and printed ones behind him layering themselves in order on the tables towards the store front.

"...Hello?" Atlas called out. The strange Man looked Utterly surprised that he had a customer.

"Why hello! Hello good sir! How may I help you?" His ink covered hands grasping a grey stained rag.

"I was wondering if you do any private printing?" Atlas asked respectfully hands clasped behind his back.

"I'm sure that I could; I've not many...not any one person has asked me to do so." He spoke staring out into space.

"I need books created from my collection of studies."

"Oh quite fun, quite fun indeed. I see no substantial reason to refuse, how many are you wanting?"

I need to accommodate the 5th year students of Hogwarts. These books also need to have at least another 100 blank pages added so that more information can be added."

"Easily done I say, less ink spent. 100 copies should suffice if you want every student to have one. Approximately 25 students reside in each house of each year leaving you with up to 50 students at one time if you have all the students take this class."

"I will only be teaching the 5th year class, one house at a time, so perhaps 30 copies should suffice for now, and one master for myself." Atlas decided. "How much are we looking at price wise and expedited so that I may have them before term starts?"

"I've not done a private printing order before, perhaps we can come to a mutual agreement on the pricing?" The man suggested, as he went to the cashiers desk and pulled a piece of parchment out to work on the calculations. "Shall these be hard back?" looking up to see Atlas nod. "Wonderful, so perhaps…" The man started muttering to himself as he wrote some numbers down, scratching out what had looked like a mathematical miscount.

"How does this look to you? The expedited price is listed as well" Atlas took the parchment that was handed to him and closely looked at the expenses. Four Galleons and seven knuts for one book, multiply that by 31 books and you get just under 125 Galleons, with the expedited price of an extra 41 galleons would come to the conclusion of 166 galleons total price. Atlas nodded along the pricing, set the paper down and said. "I think Mr.-"

"Oh yes! Yes! Where are my manners! I am Xenophilius Lovegood, Xeno for short" Xeno said in high excited energy.

"Wonderful Mr. Lovegood, I agree to these charges and see them fairly priced." He shook his hand, signed the receipt and handed over a copy of his work that he wanted copied. Xeno opened the page and saw the name plain as day Lord Atlas Fawley and gawked at the man standing in front of him.

"My sincerest apologies to my Lord!" He just shrieked. "My manners have escaped me in the presence of house Nobility, how rude of me! I shall give you a discount immediately for my lack of recognition!" Xeno had gone to attempt to change the final pricing but Atlas had stopped him.

"No don't!" Atlas hastily grabbed Xenos's writing arm. "Leave the price, you have done so honorably and without bias to my status, I will honor the price you have laid out in front of me. Not many shop tellers can do that and will choose to try and charge me more than the common folk just because they know that I have the money to spend."

"I accept your offer as it stands Mr. Lovegood, when will you have them ready?"

"Hogwarts starts on the 1st day of September, I can have them done by the first of August."

"Excellent, would you perhaps be able to finish one copy before hand so that I can make any corrections if need be?" Atlas asked

"Yes yes! Of course my Lord I shall start right away!" Xeno stood up taller than he had been, flicked his wand towards his printer and the current job seized. Placed Atlas' book gently on one end and a quill began writing on a piece of parchment quite quickly. Atlas nodded in approval and left the printing press with nothing more than a wave, to not disrupt the focused eccentric man at work.

* * *

a/n : So, Hermione has a new home that was easy, but nothing is easy in the world of Harry Potter. Atlas is going to be a professor, cliche I'm sure for an OC but just how involved is he going to be in this story?

Being a full time college student has been rough, but it has given me time to work on this while I need a break from the rigorous studying. Can't promise a bunch of updating any more so I am very thankful for those who have stuck around. I have a baby in the house now, work two jobs and will be on to 14 credit hours come January. This hasn't been abandoned and I think of it often. See you guys next chapter.


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